A large segment of the commercial fishing interests scattered throughout the world is committed to canning relatively large fish. These fish are cooked before they are canned, and are generally ready to eat from the can. Popular fish which are thus canned include tuna, skipjack, albacore and salmon. Since these fish are procured at no small expense, and much labor is necessary to provide the finished product for sale, there has developed a need to minimize both the waste of salable product and the time and energy required to process the fish. Efficient skinning of these fish helps minimize both. However, current methods of skinning by hand with a conventional straight knife permits no practical means to control yield, which is the ratio of salable fish meat to waste skin. The fish-skinning tool of this invention is not directed to descaling fish, but skinning it, and provides a convenient and practical means to control yield.